Nicholas (Nick) Austin-Wakefield is a traditional fine arts illustrator and experimental multimedia artist. Based in Virginia, he holds a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). His work centers Blackness, queerness, and emotional connection. Blending fine art influences with graphic clarity, he creates images that explore identity, vulnerability, and the complexities of human relationships.

From an early age, Austin was drawn to the storytelling power of images—but disillusioned by traditions that excluded or distorted people like him. Rather than imitate these conventions, he reimagines them. His work seeks a sense of wholeness in fragmentation, using disjointed forms, soft color palettes, and symbolic gestures to build compositions that feel both personal and collective.

Deeply informed by his lived experience as a Black queer artist, Austin often portrays chosen families, intimate moments, and emotional tension. His figures aren’t just characters—they’re reflections of real-world struggle and joy, standing in as metaphors for care, resistance, and self-definition.

Across painting, illustration, and design, he often plays with contrasting textures, layered patterns, and fragmented architecture to hold tension between beauty and disruption. Whether through bold, maximalist interiors or delicate, collage-like arrangements, his visual world asks viewers to slow down, feel deeply, and imagine more compassionate ways of being.

At its core, his work aims to make space—for softness, for conversation, and for new forms of connection.